OBU Alum Lloyd Minter Dies at 94

January 8, 2013

Lloyd G. Minter, 94, a 1940 OBU graduate and former trustee, died Jan. 4, 2013, at his retirement residence in Tulsa, Okla. A memorial service for Minter will be held at 10:30 a.m. Jan. 8 at First Baptist Church in Bartlesville, Okla., with Dr. Bill Cook and Dr. Sam Storms officiating.

Minter served as retired general counsel, senior vice president and past member of the Board of Directors of Phillips Petroleum Company. He served five terms on OBU’s Board of Trustees – 1961-65, 1966-70, 1976-80, 1981-85 and 1986-90 – including three terms as chairman. He served on three OBU presidential nominating committees. In 1961, Minter received OBU’s Alumni Achievement Award and is included in OBU’s Paul Dickinson College of Business Hall of Fame.

“Dr. Minter epitomizes the excellence an OBU education affords,” said OBU President David W. Whitlock. “He was a scholar, friend, leader and a Christian gentleman. He also had the sharpest mind and wit, and I was never with him that I did not laugh. We are praying for his family as they mourn his passing, and as they celebrate a life well lived.”

Minter was born Nov. 2, 1918, in Pocasset, Okla., to Chester and Millie Minter. He married Betty Edwards in Oklahoma City on Aug. 8, 1947. The Minters were Bartlesville residents since 1949 before moving to Montereau Retirement Resort in Tulsa in 2006. Betty preceded him in death on July 6, 2007, following 60 years of marriage. They had been members of the First Baptist Church in Bartlesville for more than 50 years. He was a chairman of the church’s board of deacons and taught aSunday school class for 50 years. During his military service in the U.S. Army in World War II, Minter was awarded the Combat Infantry Badge, the Bronze Star, three Battle Stars and the Purple Heart for wounds received in battle.

He earned a bachelor’s degree from OBU in 1940 and a juris doctorate from the University of Oklahoma in 1943. He joined Phillips Petroleum Company’s legal staff in 1943. He retired from Phillips in 1978, after serving at the company for 35 years. He served as counsel to the Tulsa law firm of Boone, Smith, Davis and Hearst from 1978-89.

At OBU, he established the innovative Minter Lectureship in American Business Practice from his desire to help OBU religious vocation students broaden their understanding of the business community. The annual series began in 1991 and is hosted every spring semester on the Shawnee campus. The rationale behind the Minter Lecture Series is that adding a sound understanding of the business world to the educational experience of church ministry majors can broaden their ability to minister effectively. OBU annually has one of the largest numbers of religion majors among Southern Baptist four-year colleges and universities, and the Minter Lectureship is designed to provide orientation and training for those students in the history and nature of the American economic system and to help students understand and appreciate the business/professional community.

Minter served on the Board of Directors of the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and the Southern Baptist Foundation Corporation.

He served on the Board of Governors of the Oklahoma Bar Association and the Board of the University of Oklahoma Law Center. He was admitted as attorney and counselor of the U.S. Supreme Court. He served as chairman of the Bartlesville Community Center Trust Authority and the Washington County Equalization and Excise Board. He is listed in Who’s Who in American Lawyers and Who’s Who in America.

He is survived by one son, George A. Minter, and his wife, Debbie, of Overland Park, Kan.; two daughters, Marilyn Minter of Santa Fe, N.M., and Nancy Welch of Bartlesville; and three grandchildren.